it is a feature of this law that federal managers can't choose where to cut. the reductions must be across the board thereby eliminating both the wasteful and the vital. a few programs are exempt, however, and we asked nancy cordes to tell us where the cuts are coming. >> reporter: food stamp fund will not be cut. neither will children's health subsidies or medicaid. democrats protected those programs for the poor and a few others when they were negotiating the sequester with republicans two years ago. and both sides agreed that military pay and benefits along with funding for veterans should be shielded from the budget ax as well. but the rest of the federal government will be cut by $85 billion this year and more than $100 billion each of the nine years after that with the cuts split between defense and domestic spending. that translates into an 8% cut in pentagon funding. most domestic agencies will have to cut at least 5% from their ledgers. medicare itself won't get cut but doctors who see medicare patients will see their reimbursements trimmed by 2%. and